Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Benjamin Alire Sáenz (born August 16, 1954) is an award-winning American poet, novelist, and writer of children's books. Life Sáenz was born at Old Picacho, New Mexico, the fourth of seven children, and was raised on a small farm near Mesilla, New Mexico. He graduated from Las Cruces High School in 1972. That fall, he entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado where he received a B.A. degree in Humanities and Philosophy in 1977. He studied Theology at the University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium from 1977 to 1981. He was a priest for a few years in El Paso, Texas before leaving the order. In 1985, he returned to school, and studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he earned an M.A. degree in Creative Writing. He then spent a year at the University of Iowa as a Ph.D student in American Literature. A year later, he was awarded a Wallace E. Stegner fellowship. While at Stanford University under the guidance of Denise Levertov, he completed his first book of poems, Calendar of Dust,. He entered the Ph.D. program at Stanford and continued his studies for two more years. Before completing his Ph.D., he moved back to the border and began teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso in the bilingual MFA program. In 2005, he curated a show of photographs by Julian Cardona.http://www.cueartfoundation.org/julian-cardona.html He teaches in the Creative Writing Department at the University of Texas at El Paso.http://faculty.utep.edu/Default.aspx?alias=faculty.utep.edu/bsaenz He is the co-host, with Daniel Chacón of the KTEP-produced radio and online show on writers and writing, "Words on a Wire"http://ktep.org/program_detail.sstg?id=235 Writing His first novel, Carry Me Like Water was a saga that brought together the Victorian novel and the Latin American tradition of magic realism and received much critical attention. Review of Carry Me Like Water, Blogcritics: "This lush and touching novel by Benjamin Alire Saenz, a series of interconnected stories of a most amazing cast of characters, is simply astounding....All in all, it is an amazing story, a commentary on life, on the issues that plague us today like border crossings, prejudice, AIDS, being Chicano, being gay, love, death and fear. The dialogue is crisp and interesting, each chapter seamlessly flows like the river into the next. It is poetic, which is not surprising considering Saenz is an eloquent Chicano poet. As in his other book, In Perfect Light, he has created a masterpiece of imagery, color and a unique and beautiful story." In The Book of What Remains (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), his fifth book of poems, he writes to the core truth of life's ever-shifting memories. Set along the Mexican border, the contrast between the desert's austere beauty and the brutality of border politics mirrors humanity's capacity for both generosity and cruelty.http://www.coppercanyonpress.org/catalog/index.cfm?action=displayBook&Book_ID=1421 Recognition His first book of poems, Calendar of Dust, won an American Book Award in 1992. Awards * Wallace E. Stegner Fellowship, poetry * 1992 American Book Award, for Calendar of Dust * Lannan Poetry Fellowship 1993 * Carry Me Like Water, Southwest Book Award 1996 (Border Regional Library Association) * Dark and Perfect Angels, Southwest Book Award 1996 (Border Regional Library Association) * Grandma Fina and Her Wonderful Umbrellas, Best Children's Book 2000, Texas Institute of Letters * Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, Americas Book Award, the Paterson Book Prize, the J Hunt Award, Finalist Los Angeles Book Prize, BBYA Top Ten Books for Young Adults * Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award, Southwest Book Award (Border Regional Library Association), Chicago Public Library, Best of the Best Books for Teens, New York Public Library Stuff for the Teen 2009, Commended Title, Americas Book Award 2009 * A Perfect Season for Dreaming, Best Children's Book, Friends of the Austin Public Library 2008 (Texas Institute of Letters), Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year 2008, Kirkus Review 2008 Notable Books for Children, Paterson Book Prize http://www.riverabookaward.info/page/S%C3%A1enz,+Benjamin+Alire?t=anon Publications Poetry *''Calendar of Dust''. Seattle, WA: Broken Moon Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0-913089-16-3 *''Dark and Perfect Angels''. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-938317-23-4 *''Elegies in Blue: Poems''. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-938317-64-7 *''Dreaming the End of War''. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-55659-239-3 *''The Book of What Remains''. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-55659-297-3 Novels * Carry Me Like Water: A novel. New York: Hyperion, 1995. *''In the House of Forgetting: A novel''. New York: HarperCollins, 1997. ISBN 978-0-06-018738-5 *''In Perfect Light: A novel''. New York: Rayo, 1985; New York: Harper, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-077921-4 **translated by author as En el tiempo de la Luz: Una novela. New York: Rayon, 2006; New York: HarperCollins, 2006 *''Names on a Map: A novel''. New York: Harper, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-128569-1 Short fiction *''Flowers for the Broken: Stories''. Seattle, WA: Broken Moon Press, 1992. ISBN 978-0-913089-28-6 *''Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club''. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2012. ISBN 978-1-935955-32-0 Juvenile *''A Gift from Papá Diego = Un regalo de papá Diego'' (illustrated by Geronimo Garcia). New York: Scholastic, 2000. ISBN 978-0-613-06587-0 *''Grandma Fina and her wonderful umbrellas = La abuelita Fina y sus sombrillas maravillosas'' (illustrated by Geronimo Garcia). El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-938317-61-6 * A Perfect Season for Dreaming = Un tiempo perfecto para soñar (illustrated by Esau Andrade Valencia). El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-933693-01-9 * The Dog Who Loved Tortillas = La perrita que le encantaban las tortillas (illustrated by Geronimo Garcia). Cinco Puntos Press, 2009 Young adult *''Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood''. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-938317-81-4 *''He Forgot to Say Goodbye''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. ISBN 978-1-4169-4963-3 * Last Night I Sang to the Monster: A novel. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2009. * Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Benjamin Alire Saenz, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 21, 2015. Audio / video *''Benjamin Sáenz'' (cassette). Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri, 199-? *''Benjamin Alire Sáenz reads his poetry, Oct. 10, 1991'' (VHS). San Francisco: American Poetry Archive, Poetry Center, San Francisco State University, 1991. Except where noted, discographical information courtesy WorldCat. See also * List of U.S. poets *List of Chicano poets References Notes External links ;Poems *[http://xicanopoetrydaily.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/benjamin-alire-saenz-to-the-desert/ Benjamin Alire Sáenz: War (in the City in Which I Live), April 23, 2009] *Benjamin Alire Sáenz: “To the Desert”, 04.19.09 *[http://www.sfpoetry.org/saenz2.html "Students I See Every Day", Santa Fe Poetry Broadside, Issue #31, February, 2003] *[http://narrativemagazine.com/issues/poems-week-2008-2009/do-not-mind-bombs Do Not Mind the Bombs, Narrative Magazine] *Benjamin Alire Sáenz b. 1954 at the Poetry Foundation. ;Audio / video *Benjamin Alire Sáenz at YouTube ;Books *Benjamin Alire Sáenz at Amazon.com ;About *Dictionary of Literary Biography on Benjamin Alire Saenz *Ben Alire Saenz: Bookfest 04 *Benjamin Alire Saenz, Poet, Novelist, A Review of Saenz's "Alligator Park", Eva Rodgers *Benjamin Alire Sáenz Official website. Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:People from New Mexico Category:American poets Category:American novelists Category:University of Texas at El Paso faculty Category:American writers of Mexican descent Category:Hispanic and Latino American novelists Category:University of Iowa alumni Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Chicano poets